Prologue
"Science officer's log, Stardate 57032.3. Commander Donner, Dr. Hofmann and I are en route to the second asteroid orbiting Kamus I. Due to tricorder malfunction, our investigation into the unknown EM source on the first asteroid was postponed for two hours. It is only logical to assume that the next source will be as unpredictable as the last one."
Lieutenant T'mor stood up, holding a tablet in her left hand and a tricorder in the other, walked to the aft quarter of the shuttle Helios. They had left USS Maxwell for six hours, and had not yet seemed to be near the end of the away mission. After an strange EM signal appeared on the long range sensor, Captain ordered the crew to set course to have a look. The signal appears to be originated from three different asteroids orbiting a black hole. That is when she and the two humans went on an away mission.
Dr. Hofmann was reading the recent recording when T'mor knocked. He answered the door dismissively, not bothering to look up.
"Doctor, I find the reading very troubling. According to it, There doesn't seem to have anything that can emit EM signal." Handing the tablet to the doctor, T'mor said, "An intriguing anomaly."
"Intriguing, Indeed. That is why I love the job as on board scientist. There's so much to learn, to explore in the vast universe." Dr. Hofmann, a little distracted, answered after a short pause. He took the tablet and smiled to the Vulcan. In return, T'mor nodded, and was about to say something, when she was interrupted by the comm.
"Lieutenant, doctor, please report to helm immediately."
Seconds later, in the forward section, a concerning commander welcomed them with a haste sentence. "We are in trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" replied the science officer. Judging by his look, something disastrous must have happened. One glance to the console answered her question quickly. A space shift the size of USS Maxwell was less than five kilometres away, dead ahead, and closing in them fast. Helios was being dragged to it under the force of space shift like a twig flowing down stream to the horrifying waterfall.
"It came from nowhere!" exclaimed Commander Donner, "It just materialize in the front and begin to suck us in. We need to turn around." As if there was a curse of bad fortune, the siren went off, alerting the failure of structure integrity.
They must act quickly. Commander Donner tried to turn the shuttle about, while T'mor diverting more power to hold the ship in one piece. With every metre closer, holding structure requires more power, which means less power to escape. Soon, they were left with two options: be crushed on site, or be pulled into the ominous rift. It appears only luck can save them.
"OK, there's no escaping it. Hold on to something!" Commander Donner shouted over the warning siren, after launching a distress beacon via aft torpedo launcher.
The three of them fastened their seat belts and braced themselves as they were dragged into the unknown darkness.